Shields

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER of Police in charge of crime, Mark Shields, last week made a shocking statement surrounding his role in crime fighting during an interview with The Gleaner, sending the Police Officer's Association (POA) into a huddle to fashion a response.

"We were not brought here to solve the crime problem," Shields, told The Gleaner Wednesday.

"We were brought here to assist in the modernisation of the JCF and I believe that we have played a critical role in that. At no time did somebody say to me 'We would like you to come and solve the crime problem'. Frankly, I would have laughed," Shields said.

Five British police officers now occupy high-ranking posts in the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Foreign officers

Dr Peter Phillips, the former minister of national security under whose watch Shields and the other foreign officers came to Jamaica, said, "Only a crazy person would think that four people from elsewhere could come and solve our problem."

Superintendent Michael James, chairman of the POA, told The Gleaner that several members had expressed concerns about the statement made by Shields.

"There are a lot of persons who are upset - if the way you carried it was really what he said," James told The Gleaner.

Also in the news last week

Seaga says Jamaica not high on Obama or McCain's agenda

BARACK OBAMA or John McCain, who would be better for developing countries like Jamaica? Neither, former prime minister Edward Seaga said.

Obama, an African American, and McCain are both seeking to replace George W. Bush as president of the United States when America votes on November 4.

"I don't know that there is that much commitment to this region anymore from Washington by either party. The Cold War is over, so the political interest that was there has waned," Seaga told The Sunday Gleaner.

Look away from USA

A group of academics and a theo-logian are warning the Government to look to other strong economies for assistance, as Jamaica could see foreign aid and foreign direct investment from the United States gradually dry up after the election of either Barack Obama or John McCain to the White House.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum at the newspaper's North Street, central Kingston offices, Tuesday, the stakeholders called for the Government to lure more investments from outside the US.

"Should McCain - God forbid - become the new president, then my next prayer would be, please embolden Russia!" exclaimed the Reverend Dr Roderick Hewitt, minister of the Hope United Church in St Andrew.

Health Fund pours cash into JUTC security

Rae Barrett, chief executive officer of the National Health Fund (NHF), was dismissed over reports that the multibillion-dollar fund that provides financial support to the national health-care system was being inappropriately tapped to foot private security bills.

Security guards were hired for Barrett, in his capacity as deputy chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC).

But Barrett has insisted that he did nothing wrong to warrant his dismissal from the NHF. He said he had had nothing to do with the engagement of Marksman to provide security for him and the NHF. Barrett has been chairman of Marksman for 20 years.

'It is Obama's time now'

COLIN POWELL, former United States secretary of state, says that while he opted not to seek election as that nation's first black president 13 years ago, Democratic candidate Barack Obama now has a good shot at the most powerful job in the world.

Powell told The Gleaner Thursday that he decided against running because he did not wish to run for political office.

"I didn't think it was the right thing for me and I didn't have the kind of passion one needs," he said.

"Now, 13 years later, a young, black man has come along who has been passionate and who has demonstrated to the American people that he has the gifts necessary to be a successful president," he added.

Davis lambastes Christie over 'breach' accusation

FORMER CHAIRMAN of the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), Dr Carlton Davis, says the board of the institution had never lost sight of its fiduciary responsibilities and matters relating to conflict of interest.

Davis went on the offensive following a claim by Contractor General Greg Christie that former members of the DBJ board had breached their duty as directors of the bank.

"I find the contractor general's characterisations unacceptable and offensive. Our law has allowed him enormous power to do most of what he wants to do and his judgements are not subject to judicial review," Davis said Thursday in a letter to The Gleaner.

Illicit trade threatens Clarendon tourism, but group vows to fight

The robust guns-for-drugs trade on the Clarendon coast is threatening potential earnings from prospective lucrative tourism development being planned for the southern belt.

At the same time, the Clarendon police chief, Superintendent Dathan Henry, says corruption within the ranks is inhibiting efforts to dent the trade.

"It is affecting us," he said at a Gleaner Editors' Forum in the parish on the weekend, "but it is not significant."